Articles are known that contain a cosmetic fluid in a liquid or viscous form for dispensing through the orifice of a nozzle. Means such as a pump act on command to dispense the fluid through the orifice. The assembly may be covered by a cap having the function of avoiding contact between the orifice and elements external to the article. By way of example, a device of this type is described in application EP-0 277 893.
It commonly happens that fluid remains in the nozzle after use. Unfortunately this can lead to several problems.
Firstly, this fraction of fluid forms a site that can become contaminated on contact with the surroundings.
Thereafter, the appearance of the deposit of fluid formed in this way is unattractive next time the user removes the cap in order to obtain the fluid. This applies particularly when the fluid dries out in contact with ambient air. And the deposit may then become mixed with the dose of clean fluid that is dispensed through the orifice.
Furthermore, depending on the formulation corresponding to the fluid used, it can happen that on drying the fluid forms threads that accumulate at the orifice and obstruct it progressively, either completely or in part. As a result dispensing is no longer under full control insofar as the fluid expelled from the orifice may be deflected significantly or indeed may be dispensed in doses that are incomplete.
In order to mitigate those problems, mechanisms have been proposed for internally closing the orifice of the nozzle. Such mechanisms serve in particular temporarily to interrupt any communication between the orifice and the receptacle containing the fluid. Such mechanisms may be piston mechanisms, for example. Nevertheless, such mechanisms are usually of a complicated arrangement and require careful assembly, thereby making them expensive. Furthermore, they require considerable and specific developments and they need to be housed within volumes that are small and that are not always adaptable. Above all, they do not prevent a certain amount of the fluid forming a deposit at the outside of the orifice.
Devices are also known in which the cap itself covers the orifice of the nozzle. That applies in the above-mentioned document. However, such closure causes the deposited fluid to be spread over the nozzle and over the inside face of the cap so that as the device is used an increasing number of times, the fluid accumulates in those locations, and thus in particular on the orifice itself, once more making its appearance relatively unattractive.